[LINK] Ported telephone numbers

[Paul Brooks]

On 9/01/2018 12:54 PM, David wrote:
> Just for clarification, I think the way it's supposed to work is that the carrier to which a number is allocated publishes a PLNR ("Ported Local Number Register") file which is available to all other carriers.  This shows the new holder of the number in question, so calls can be routed directly without going near the owner of the number.
Local Number Portability isn't a true 100% multiparty thing unfortunately, so there
can be holes. I might be a few years out of date now, but it used to work that a new
carrier who wants to receive ported numbers has to execute a separate porting
agreement with each other carrier it wants to receive numbers from, so you can get
situations where a small carrier has porting agreements with Telstra and Optus but not
AAPT and Primus, so if a customer switches to the new carrier, whether they can port
the number or not will depend on which network they are coming from.
I think they also need to have a 4-digit Carrier Access Code still, and an Eligible
Party ID code per Comms Alliance for the electronic systems access.
> But what seems to have happened with the advent of the NBN is that numbers may not be ported at all.  Telstra, at least, may hold onto the number and charge to reroute calls, and do so in a way which isn't apparent to retail customers.  The recharge is significant too, $10 p.m. in my case, a third of the old POTS line rental.
Is the new provider a true carrier with a proper 4-digit carrier access code (CAC)?
Perhaps they have contracted Telstra to perform the portability functions on their
behalf. Telstra can't 'hang on to the number' if it is requested to be ported by a
carrier with a porting agreement, but your gaining provider might not have all the
arrangements in place to ask them to port it in the first place and have instead asked
Telstra to do it as their proxy.
Check out if they have a mark in the 'LNP' column in
http://commsalliance.com.au/Documents/Industry-Lists/EPID

Feel free to ping me off-list if you'd like to delve in to this deeper, and who your
gaining provider is.




>
> Grrr...  Is this in the spirit of number portability?
>
> DavidL
>
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link


-- 
Paul Brooks               |         Mob +61 414 366 605
Layer 10 Advisory         |         Ph  +61 2 9402 7355
-------------------------------------------------------
Layer 10 - telecommunications strategy & network design